onthefiscalcliff. haveyou got your holidayshoppingdoneyet?are you done? >> gretchen: i am waiting for three things to come in the mail that they might not arrive. >> i an alert said winter weather causing shipping delays. >> if you are worried about your packages in christmas eve, you delayed yourself. >> gretchen: blame the weather guy. l>> i ordered it on friday. >> gretchen: merry christmas . still no deal in sight just more of the same way blame game . e week before the taxes are going to sky rocket. steve is live in washington. >> good morning, gretchen and everybody. washington is shut down for the christmas holiday . when everybody does come back to town, the ball will be in the democrat's court because speaker boehner was unable to bring his on board. for the plan b. >> onous is on senator reid and the president to come up with a solution and present it to the house and get back to the bargaining table. >> now the president has insisted on a tax hike for the healthy but wants that at $250,000 or $400,000 and not one mill yen and even though the president scaled back his ex

bedonetoavertthisso-calledfiscalcliff. ed,good to see you. merry christmas to you. >> reporter: merry christmas, kelly. economists have warned that this could lead to another recession if in fact these massive spending cuts and tax hikes kick in at the same time right at the beginning of the new year. what they're trying to do to avert that is scaled back plan that the president suggested late last week that would basically deal with some of the emergency pests of this. extended unemployment benefits for two million people about to be kicked off their benefits a week after christmas the president also wants to extend tax cuts for the middle class. you heard house speaker john boehner say the problem there that will raise tax rates for some. he thinks that will hurt the economy, although over the weekend in sort of a holiday message the speaker suggested maybe they can come together after the holiday. >> of course hope springs eternal and i know we have it in us to come together and do the right thing. we'll continue to work with our colleagues in the congress and the white hous

. washington did not getafiscalcliffdealfor christmas so that means president obama and lawmakers will need to kick it to overdrive to get something done by new year's. this is easier said than done. >> after weeks of bitterness, this is not a contest of the parties between who looks good and who doesn't. >> the only thing both sides agree on now is christmas may provide a cooling off period. >> ebb can drink eggnog. have christmas cookies. sing christmas carols. enjoy company of loved ones. >> hope springers eternal. >> when the christmas trees come down tomorrow from waikiki beach and elsewhere, the nation will be staring at the cliff that economists warned could spark a new recession. the fact is both sides are further apart than the holiday messages suggest. this puts the speaker in a box leading to collapse of plan "a" of $4 trillion debt deal and the slimmeded-down plan "b." >> in the course, i offered to compromise with republicans in congress. i met them halfway on taxes and more than halfway on spen spending. >> boehner is saying that the stumbling block will lead to taxe

? >>thefiscalcliffputsit in jeopardy. many are afraid to invest in their business and hire new workers. make plans. >> no longer vetting a deal is done by new year's eve f. one comes by early january definitely a possibility. the economic impact should be minim minimal. if one comes later than that the damage to the economy is already done and you will see more talk of recession and analysts started cutting the earnings growth in the fourth quarter. >> one thing they don't like is uncertainty. apple released a new product and there will be another new product. >> now that you got them under the christmas tree. a man who has been right predicting apple products before a 5th generation ipad will look like the mini but some what thinner narrower and shorter than a regular ipad so not as small. apple is working on another generation of the ipad mini. it could be two new products. >> we could have just wasted our money at christmastime. >> sales were down from what was expected. >> yeah, the holiday shopping season a disappointment. the first tally on the sales is now in. spending polls said down

america from going overthefiscalcliff. asthe house and senate reconvene tomorrow. the clock is ticking. six days until the deadline. the way things work in washington, can they actually get something done before the end of the year? brianna keilar, what is the latest on this? >> hi, there, drew. president obama will be heading home from hawaii tonight, logical time arri arriving in d.c. thursday morning when the senate will be reconvenin reconvening, and the senate, all eyes on now, that we look for the last-ditch effort to avoid the fiscal cliff. even though the president is returning on thursday, we may not see the senate roll out its bill to deal with the fiscal cliff. perhaps for a couple of days. this is entirely possible we've learned from sources as senate majority leader harry reid works to get republican support in the senate, which he will need if he's going to pass a bill. and so we're still waiting to see exactly what it will look like that the white house wants for the threshold on income tax rates to cut off at $250,000. we will see if that ultimately is what senate major

withthefiscalcliff. i'mlooking now to congress and say, pass the amt patch today. >> gretchen: all right. we'll see if they're listening to marty, a cpa who is a little nutsoutrig to get everything done before year's end. >> thank you very much. >> gretchen: georgetown cup cakes secret ingredient this new year, champagne? we're showing you how it make the party even sweeter with sophie. yep, she's just one part of the team with our others and she's here hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. >> gretchen: welcome back. wicked weather like this wreaking havoc on airports across the country. what can travelers expect? wfxt's katherine is live at logan international airport with the latest op the travel nightmare out of boston. good morning. >> good morning, gretchen. the sun is shining on us here in boston. but flights already beginning to be affected by the storm. flights going to dallas, columbus and